Class Notes May 2014 CALIFORNIA Sheldon Blumling, JD '98, a partner with the Irvine, California office of Fisher & Phillips LLP and chair of the firm's Employee Benefits Practice Group, was one of 48 attorneys at the firm featured in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2014. Blumling was recognized for his focus area in Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation. DELAWARE Steven Guccini, JD '79, a private practice attorney and former assistant district attorney for Pike County, has announce that he will run for Pike County commissioner as a team with David Ruby on the Democratic ticket in 2015. GEORGIA Kim Kiel Thompson, JD '89, a partner with Atlanta-based Fisher & Phillips LLP, is featured in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2014, an honor she’s earned for five consecutive years. GERMANY Prof. Dr. Doris König, MCL '82, President of Bucerius Law School and owner of the Claussen-Simon Foundation Chair of International Law, was elected by the judicial selection committee of the German Bundestag as a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court. NEVADA Burton M. Cohen, JD '48, of Las Vegas, former three-time president of the Desert Inn and a member of the MGM Resorts International board and Sunrise Hospital board of directors, died at his home at Regency Towers. He was 90. NEW YORK Rajiv Khanna, LLM'84, an attorney at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in New York City and President of the India-America Chamber of Commerce, was recently interviewed by the American Bazaar on US-India relations. Lawrence A. Kogan, JD '86, Managing Principal at The Kogan Law Group, P.C. in New York will receive the top 2014 Distinguished Legal Writing Award from The Burton Foundation for an article he co-authored with Prof. Lucas Bergkamp, Partner, Hunton & Williams, LLP, Brussels, Belgium. The article, “Trade, the Precautionary Principle and the Post-Modern Regulatory Process,” was published by the European Journal of Risk Regulation in December 2013 and nominated by The Kogan Law Group P.C. Eldonie S. Mason, JD '05, has been selected to participate in the American Arbitration Association 2014 Higginbotham Fellows Program. PENNSYLVANIA Robert T. Datorre, JD '01, of Elizabethtown, assistant counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Education in Harrisburg, will become the immediate past chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (YLD). Datorre has served on the executive council of the PBA YLD since 2008. SOUTH CAROLINA Peter J. Strauss, LLME '06, Managing Member of The Strauss Law Firm, LLC, was a featured speaker at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Conference on Tax Strategies for High-Income Individuals in Las Vegas, NV. TEXAS Yvette Ostolaza, JD '92, managing partner of Sidley Austin's Dallas office and co-global coordinator of its Complex Commercial Litigation practice, has been elected to membership in the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation. WEST VIRGINIA Brittany Young, JD '12, LLMI '12, has accepted a position at the Catholic Charities West Virginia and will be focusing on immigration casework and refugee resettlement. FLORIDA Wendi J. Adelson, JD '06, is the author of the novel This is Our Story which follows the lives of two young women from different countries who become victims of human trafficking. The novel has been selected by Florida State University for the One Book, One Campus program. Vance Aloupis, JD ’08, was honored by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida with the 2014 Young Floridian award. J. Allison Archbold, JD '97, LLME '07, has been named a shareholder at Fergeson, Skipper, Shaw, Keyser, Baron & Tirabassi PA in Sarasota. Rossana Arteaga-Gomez, JD '05, has joined the Miami office of Black Srebnick Kornspan & Stumpf, PA, as an associate attorney. Hilarie Bass, JD '81, President of Greenberg Traurig, has been named Vice Chair of the UM Board of Trustees. Recently, she also made a $1 million commitment to the law school. In her honor, the area central to student life will be renamed as the “Hilarie Bass Bricks.” Robert J. Becerra, JD '90, announced the opening of Miami-based law firm Becerra Law, P.A. The firm will focus on civil and white collar criminal litigation in state and federal courts involving international trade matters. Hon. Robert A. Butterworth, JD '69, of counsel with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney | Fowler White Boggs and Florida's longest-serving attorney general (1987-2002), has been selected to receive The Florida Bar Foundation's 2014 Medal of Honor Award for a lawyer, the Foundation's highest award. Jacqueline Calderin, JD '97, of the law firm of Ehrenstein Charbonneau Calderin, spoke at the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees and American Bankruptcy Institute’s Seminar on The Nuts and Bolts of Chapter 11 in Coral Gables, FL. Lucia A. Dougherty, LLM '80, shareholder and co-chair of the Land Development & Zoning Practice at the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, has been named to the 2014 "Power Leaders" list in the Commercial Real Estate category by the South Florida Business Journal. Patricia Elizee, JD '10, of Elizee Hernandez Law Firm in Brickell, has been selected to join the 2014-2015 class of The Florida Bar’s Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Leadership Academy, as a fellow. D. Porpoise Evans, JD '02, a shareholder in the Litigation Practice at the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, has been selected to join the 2014-2015 class of The Florida Bar’s Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Leadership Academy, as a fellow. Andrew S. Feuerstein, JD '00, passed away on May 6. Ury Fischer, JD '94, of Lott & Fischer, was selected by his peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America 2014 in the field of Technology Law, Litigation. He has also been listed in the Best Lawyers in America for the past five years. Cary Glickstein, JD '85, Delray Beach Mayor and founder of Ironwood Properties, a realestate and development company, was interviewed for the Vero Beach News Weekly's article "A determined visionary.” Jordan Hadley, 2L, president of Miami Law's chapter of the Black Law Students Association, has been named the attorney general of the National Black Law Students Association. Keon Hardemon, JD'10, Vice Chair for the City of Miami, was selected as a member of Class IV of the 2014 Leaders of Excellence program, part of the Good Government Initiative at the University of Miami, founded by former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson. Joseph Hernandez, JD '96, has been named head of the Real Estate Practice Group for the firm Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske. Phillip Hudson, JD '85, a partner resident in the Miami office of Arnstein & Lehr LLP, was elected Chairman of the HistoryMiami Board of Trustees. Patricia Ireland, JD '75, Feminist leader and former president of Nat'l Organization for Women (NOW), was the keynote speaker at a luncheon during the Florida National Organization for Women State Conference. The investiture of the Hon. Margret Kerr, JD '93, took place on September 2013. She is currently with the Office of Judges of Compensation Claims in Miami. Moshe Lehrfield, JD '90, a shareholder in the Real Estate Practice at the Miami office of international law firm Greenberg Traurig, and his wife, Jennifer Lehrfield, were honored at Young Israel of Greater Miami for their extensive involvement and influence in the Jewish community. Matthew P. Leto, JD ’05, has been promoted to partner at Miami-based litigation firm Hall, Lamb and Hall, P.A. Paul J. Levine, JD '73, recently published his newest book in the Lassiter series: State vs. Lassiter. The book, tenth in the series, is set in Miami and follows the story of a lawyer wrongly accused of murder. Mayra Peña Lindsay, JD '93, Councilwoman for the Village of Key Biscayne, was selected as a member of Class IV of the 2014 Leaders of Excellence program, part of the Good Government Initiative at the University of Miami, founded by former MiamiDade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson. David T. Lupo, JD '99, joined the Law Office of Sam J. Saad III in Naples as senior counsel. The multidisciplinary civil practice law firm Markowitz, Ringel, Trusty & Hartog, P.A., founded by Jerry M. Markowitz, JD '74, has received the 2014 Rising Star Award in the Shooting Star category from the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. The firm received the Shooting Star award for its efforts to hire, mentor and promote young professionals. Brendan A. McQuaid, JD '05, has been named a shareholder at Fergeson, Skipper, Shaw, Keyser, Baron & Tirabassi PA in Sarasota. Stuart A. Miller, JD '82, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Lennar Corporation, has been named Chair of the UM Board of Trustees. Sheryl Natelson, JD '88, attorney at Lydecker Diaz, was recently elected to chairperson of the Planning and Zoning Board of the City of Hallandale Beach. Barbara Perez, JD '93, a partner of ARONOVITZ LAW, represented Florida Whistleblower in $89.6 million medicare fraud case against a Brevard County Cancer Treatment Center. Duane L. Pinnock, LLME '02, joined Boyes & Farina, P.A. in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He will focus his practice in Trusts and Estates Litigation and Administration and Estate and Tax Planning. Lucilo Ramos, Jr., JD '92, joined Avila Rodriguez Mena & Ferri LLP in Coral Gables as senior counsel. Barry S. Richard, AB '64, JD '67, a shareholder in the Tallahassee office of Greenberg Traurig, has been listed in the 2014 Chambers USA Guide. He was selected for special recognition and was honored as a “Senior Statesman” in the annual listing of the nation’s top attorneys. Neil S. Rollnick, AB '65, JD '68, a partner with the law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson in their Coral Gables/Miami office, has been named by Chambers USA as a Leading Lawyer in the Real Estate category for 2014. Hon. Robin Rosenbaum, JD '91, United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, was unanimously confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Jamie B. Schwinghamer, JD '06, a litigation attorney with Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, has been appointed to the board of directors for Voices for Kids of Southwest Florida, Inc. John Shubin, JD '88, founding partner of the Miami firm Shubin & Bass, P.A., was elected At-Large Representative of the HistoryMiami Board of Trustees. Laurie S. Silvers, AB '74, JD '77, co-founder and president of Hollywood Media Corporation, and her husband, Mitchell Rubenstein, recently established two scholarships supporting students at the University of Miami School of Law. Nikki Lewis Simon, JD '99, a Shareholder and the Director of Client Development and Corporate Social Responsibility at the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig was named to the “Most Powerful Black Professionals in Business and Industry for 2014” by Legacy Miami Magazine. Jennifer Spradley, JD '99, a capital-qualified attorney working with Public Defender Julianne Holt, is the lead attorney on a high-profile murder trial, State v. Schenecker, in Tampa. Jay A. Steinman, JD '83, a shareholder at Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, has been named one of the Ronald McDonald House Charities’ 2014 Twelve Good Men of South Florida. William P. VanderWyden, III, JD '84, Assistant Dean or Professional Development at Miami Law, was the recipient of the Miami Catholic Lawyers' Guild's Lex Christi, Lex Amoris Award.